


Unexpected Call

by jeweldancer



Series: Cas and Dean [21]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Anxiety, Family Drama, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-26
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-05-29 04:24:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6359191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeweldancer/pseuds/jeweldancer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gabriel, Cas’s older brother, calls to check on Cas. How will he react to recent events?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unexpected Call

**Author's Note:**

> Not a lot happens in this one, but stuff will happen soon, I promise. As crazy busy as I've been lately, I'm just proud that I finished something!

"Cas. Hey, baby. You're going to sleep."

"Nope. Just resting my eyes." Cas nuzzled into Dean's shoulder.

"You've worn yourself out today. Why don't you go lay down for a little while?"

"M'fine."

Dean had come home from work early to find Cas obsessively cleaning the apartment in preparation for the upcoming Christmas festivities. "Don't get me wrong, the place looks great, but you don't need to work that hard."

"Least I can do."

"You don't have to do anything. Just take care of yourself, 'kay?" Dean smoothed Cas's hair. "Now, why don't you go take a nap while I put something on for dinner?"

Cas rubbed his eyes. "Can't. I'm expecting a phone call. About a commission."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I don't want you to stress yourself out."

"It's okay. She doesn't need it finished til spring, so it'll be okay. We're not even going to start until after the holidays. Besides, she's an old friend of my grandmother's. I can't turn her down."

"Can't she leave a message?"

"She's 85, she doesn't do voicemail. Her niece contacted me to set it up. She's going to call at 5:30 sharp to set up a time to meet."

"You'll be awake before then. Just leave your phone with me, and if she calls early, I'll answer it."

Cas started to protest, but it ended in a yawn. "A nap sounds so good right now." He reached his phone to Dean. "All right. But just for a few minutes."

"I'll wake you up before 5:30. Promise."

Cas shuffled sleepily into their bedroom. Dean watched him, smiling, then went to find something to cook. He ended up going for simple and easy, throwing together a chicken casserole and popping it in the oven.

Dean set the oven timer and ambled back to the living room, kicking off his shoes on the way. He flopped down on the sofa and set Cas's phone on the coffee table, right within reach. He decided against watching TV on the off chance it might wake Cas; instead he picked up a magazine that either Sam or Jess had left lying around. It featured articles on nature and ancient cultures, neither of which were Dean's forte.

He jumped when Cas's phone started buzzing. It wasn't anywhere near 5:30. He slid the phone off the table and squinted at it.

_Gabriel calling._

Cas's older brother. He'd probably heard all about the whole debacle from Charles and Naomi and was calling to either sympathize with Cas or to add to his parents' abuse. Either way, it could wait til later.

Ten minutes passed, and a text came through.

_Cas. Mom's being weird. Are you okay? Call me, please._

Dean grinned at the 'mom's being weird' part. "No shit, Gabriel," he muttered. He put the phone back on the coffee table and continued flipping through the magazine. He was trying to concentrate on an article about snow leopard populations.

Five minutes later, the phone buzzed again.

_Cas. Please at least text me. I'm worried about you._

Dean sighed. Gabriel was a persistent one. He abandoned the snow leopard story and started one about an archaeological discovery in Scotland.

_CASTIEL NOVAK. IF YOU DO NOT CONTACT ME RIGHT AWAY I WILL CALL THE POLICE AND HAVE THEM COME DO A WELFARE CHECK ON YOU._

Dean grabbed the phone and started tapping out a reply. Cas's brother was obviously not going to wait.

_Hey, man, Cas is asleep right now. I'll tell him you called as soon as he wakes up._

_Why is he asleep in the middle of the day? What's wrong with him?_

was quickly followed by

_Who is this? Why the hell do you have his phone?_

and

_I am freaking out here. SOMEONE is gonna talk to me._

The screen lit up. _Gabriel calling._

Dean sighed heavily. He wasn't gonna get out of this one. He answered the call.

"Hello?"

"What the fuck? Who are you? Where's my brother?"

"Dude, calm down. He..."

"I want to talk to my brother RIGHT NOW."

"Listen, I'll be damned if I'm going to wake him up just for another one of you people to have a go at him..."

"You people? I am his brother!"

"Well, I am his boyfriend!"

There was a sudden silence on the other end of the line. Dean felt a little dizzy. Had he just outed Cas to his brother? "Fuck," he muttered.

"Boyfriend?" Gabriel chuckled softly. "Well, I think I know now why Mom was freaking out."

"Listen, man. That wasn't my place to tell you that, and I don't really feel comfortable talking to you without Cas knowing, and..."

"Oh, can it. Just tell me if Castiel is all right. Please tell me he's okay."

Dean slumped back onto the sofa. "He will be. I'm not gonna lie to you, it's been rough. He's still pretty messed up, but things are getting better."

Gabriel let out a long breath. "Mom texted me to say their Christmas trip was canceled. I was kind of freaking out, because we'd already planned on spending the holidays with my girlfriend's family, and I was afraid I'd have to cancel since Mom and Dad were gonna be in town after all. So I called Mom, and she was all cryptic, all she would say is that Cas is no longer a member of the family, and she wouldn't tell me why. So I panicked. I know how Cas is, and I knew something like that would crush him, and I got afraid that he had...you know, maybe done something stupid. Or was all by himself and in a bad way."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but your mom is a piece of work. And your dad isn't a whole lot better."

"You think that's news to me? I lived with the assholes for 18 years. Listen, we should start over. I'm Gabriel Novak, Cas's older brother."

"I figured. I'm Dean Winchester. Cas's, um, boyfriend."

"Since when?"

"Umm...I met him this summer, and I guess we've been together ever since. Haven't you talked to him since then?"

"Well, yeah. I called him on his birthday. But you know how he is with phone calls. I text him every once in a while, you know, just bullshit. Not anything important. It doesn't surprise me he hadn't said anything about you. We never talk about anything of consequence."

"Wait. When's his birthday?"

"September 15th. He didn't tell you?"

"No."

"Well, he doesn't really celebrate it. He's had some pretty lousy birthdays, and he probably doesn't want to be reminded."

"Let me guess. Your mom."

"Yeah. Mom. What happened, anyway?"

Dean cleared his throat. "Hey, I kind of feel like I'm overstepping already. It's not really my place, you know?"

"Dean-o, I'm having conflicting feelings about you. On one hand, I'm irritated that you won't tell me what I want to know. On the other hand, I respect that you won't mess around in Cas's business. I think I can guess what happened, anyway. Mom found out about you and had a homophobic freak-out, right?"

"That's about the size of it, yeah. So that doesn't bother you? The whole your brother is gay thing?"

"Hell, no, man. I don't give a shit. Honestly, I was starting to think Cas would be alone forever. I don't care who he's with, as long as they treat him right. What about it, Dean-o? Are you good to my brother?"

"I try my best to be. And he's pretty good to me, too."

"So you, like, care about him?"

"Of course I do. I love him." Dean was a little surprised at how easily that came out, but it felt right.

"Oh. Shit. Wow." Gabriel was quiet for a minute. "And...and you're taking care of him? He's not alone?"

"He's been staying at my place since it happened. He was in pretty bad shape. I didn't let him out of my sight for the first few days. I had to go back to work after that, but my employees have been covering for me so I can leave early and be with him."

"Employees, huh? You have your own business?"

"Yeah. A car restoration shop."

"Cool. My brother's main squeeze isn't a deadbeat."

Dean chose to ignore that. "And Sam and Jess--that's my brother and his girlfriend--are looking out for him, too."

"Wow. So, he's got like a whole little family there?"

"Not just them. My Uncle Bobby and Aunt Ellen, and our friend Charlie. They all love Cas."

"That makes me feel better. But I still hate that I didn't know about everything sooner. Will you please make him call me as soon as he wakes up?"

"Of course. I'll have to tell him that I answered his phone and all. It took him a while to trust me, and I don't want to betray that in any way."

"Dean, you sound like a decent guy. I'm gonna take the flak for this one. It was my fault anyway. I'll tell Cas I wouldn't take no for an answer until you talked to me."

"Thanks, man. I appreciate that."

"Dean? Do you think I should fly in for Christmas? I'm not going to Mom and Dad's, they've treated him like shit for way too long, but just to see Cas?"

"I'm gonna leave that up to you guys, man. But any of Cas's family that treats him decently is welcome in our home. I don't have any extra room for you to stay here, unfortunately, but you're welcome to visit as long as Cas is fine with it."

Gabriel thought for a minute. "Maybe I should wait until after Christmas. I don't want to put too much stress on everyone. Do you and Cas have holiday plans? With your family and friends, you know?"

"We do. Ice skating and cookie baking with Sam and Jess, Christmas dinner with Bobby and Ellen, and Charlie usually has a party. He'll have plenty of people around him."

"All right. I don't really want to swoop in and disrupt everything. Adding me and Sarah to the mix might be too much for Cas right now. I'll talk with him about it, but maybe after Christmas, when things calm down, we could come spend a few days with you guys."

"That sounds good. Um, one thing that might help him, though. Could you maybe have Anna call him? I know he really misses her, and I don't think she contacts him often."

Gabriel sighed. "Don't get me wrong. Anna is a good person, she's very kind, but...it wasn't easy to grow up like she did, sick and in the hospital all the time, and I think she just wants to leave all that behind. You can't blame her, really, but in the process she left Cas behind, too. And now that she's engaged, and has the apple pie life, she doesn't want to think about the past. And I know that hurts Castiel." Gabriel laughed bitterly. "We're a pretty shit family for him, aren't we? Cas has always been the best of all of us. He deserves better. I'm glad he has people around him that care for him."

Dean tried and failed to keep the emotion out of his voice. "Well, you're trying to make sure he's all right, and that means you care, too. I'll have him call you as soon as he can."

"Thanks. And Dean? I know I'm a shitty brother, but I'm still Cas's big brother, and so I feel obligated to tell you that if you hurt him, I'll kill you."

Dean laughed softly. "Same, dude."

"That's fair. Look, I hope I can get to meet you face-to-face soon. And if anything bad happens to Cas again, would you please call me?"

"If Cas is okay with that, then yes."

Gabriel sighed again. "I guess that's as much as I can expect. Take care of him, Dean."

"I will."

Dean dropped the phone on the sofa and put his feet up. That had gone better that it could have, all things considered. At least Cas had one decent relative.

He picked up the magazine again, but was interrupted by a yawn. The talk with Gabriel had taken a lot out of him, and Cas was right. A nap didn't sound half bad. He pushed himself up off the couch and checked the oven timer. Forty-five minutes to go on the casserole. Dean set an alarm on Cas's phone and made his way to the bedroom.

"Hey, babe," he whispered. "Move over."

"Mmmm. All right."

Dean got under the covers and scooted next to Cas, wrapping his arm around him. "You okay, Cas?"

"Yeah. You're warm."

"So are you." Dean kissed the back of Cas's head. "Love you."

"Mmmph."

"Yeah." Dean nestled in closer, and they both drifted off to sleep.


End file.
